Fighting for Equal Education in South Africa

Since 2008, student activists in Khayelitsha, Cape Town, South Africa have been fighting for a better education in their hometown, and all over the country. The Equal Education movement in South Africa is one of the leaders in post-apartheid education reform, aimed to improve conditions in schools for all ethnicities, and specifically bring awareness to the many lacking amenities in Cape Town schools.

Major education challenges in Cape Town are illiteracy, unemployment and high dropout rates. Other lacking amenities include:

Lack of laboratories

Large class sizes

Lack of sports facilities

No drinking water

Broken toilets

No libraries, or very few books

Current campaigns by the Equal Education movement include addressing the sanitation issues in schools in Tembisa. The group has also recently drafted a document for the standards of educational spaces in Khayelitsha and the surrounding districts, including basics like water, electricity, and sanitation.

Do you know any other student-led movements working to improve school conditions in their country?